Empedocles

Empedocles (490 BC-430 BC) was a Greek Presocratic philosopher and a citizen of Acragas (Agrigento) in Sicily. His notable ideas included the belief that all matter was made up of water, air, earth, and fire; the cosmic principles of philotes (love) and neikos (strife), and his theories about respiration.

Biography
Empedocles was born in Acragas, Sicily in 490 BC to a distinguished Greek family. Empedocles became known as a brilliant orator, a man with a penetrating knowledge of nature, a man with marvellous powers such as an ability to cure diseases and avert epidemics, and a famed magician and controller of storms. Empedocles followed in his family's footsteps by continuing the fight against tyranny, overthrowing the oligarchy of Acragas. Empedocles' philosophical ideas included the belief that all matter was made up of water, air, earth, and fire, that the elements were parted by love and strife, and that air was corporeal (Empedocles also followed Pythagoras' vegetarian lifestyle). He died in 430 BC.